Archive for November, 2009

General Property Issues Related to Divorce and Family Law in California.

Tuesday, November 24th, 2009

Community Property

California is a community property state. All property that is purchased or acquired during marriage, or transmuted (converted) to community property during marriage is community property.

The husband and wife in a marriage, each own an undivided one half interest in all community property of the marriage.

Community property is not divided, unless divorce proceedings are initiated, or upon the death of either the husband or wife.

Community property can be either real property or personal property. Community property can also be businesses, pension plans, or any other type of tangible thing that is acquired during marriage.

Community property is ordinarily one of the major issues involved in divorce actions.

Quasi Community Property

Quasi community property is property that is acquired outside of the state of California during marriage. Although married couples may have purchased property in a state that is not a community property state like California, the property will basically be treated as though it were community property for purposes division in a divorce action in the state of California.

Businesses

Businesses that were started during a marriage are community property.
In some instances a person may have owned an existing business before they were married, and continue the business after marriage. In a divorce action, the courts will allocate a percentage of value to the business “after marriage” to determine which portion of the business is community property.

If you owned an existing business before marriage, it is extremely important for you to consult with an attorney in a divorce action as soon as possible.

Pensions

Any portion of Pensions, IRA’s, 401(k) s, Retirement plans, etc., that were contributed during marriage are community property.

Ordinarily the funds from pension plans are not obtainable until the pension plan vests and matures. Therefore special orders are necessary from the court so that each party is able to get their portion of any retirement plan after it matures and vests. These orders are ordinarily called qualified domestic relations orders or QDRO’s for short.

Obviously parties to a divorce have a vested interest in ensuring that they get their fair portion of any pension or retirement plans after a divorce.

Community Income, Bank Accounts, Stock, and Investments

All income earned during a marriage is considered community income. This is true even in one of the parties to a marriage earns money in a business that was theirs prior to marriage. Community income is the same as community property, in that each party owns a one half undivided interest in community income.

Each party to the marriage has a right to spend and use community income, even if they are not the one that earned the money. However, after legal separation or the initiation of divorce proceedings, parties may only use community property for the necessities of life and to pay their attorney.

Likewise, any bank accounts, stock, and/or investments that are acquired during the marriage are also community property. This is true even if the bank account, stock, and/or investment is only in the name of one of the parties.

Some parties try to secret money into separate bank accounts during marriage, and/or hide assets there were acquired during marriage from the other party.

If you are a party in a divorce action, you have what is called a fiduciary duty of disclosure. What this means is that you must disclose all assets, bank accounts, and other of the investments that were acquired during the marriage to the other party. If you fail to fully disclose your assets and/or income to the court and the other party, the court could severely punish you.

You may have read about the case where a wife won the lottery, and then initiated divorce proceedings against her husband. She failed to inform the court and her husband about the fact that she won the lottery. As punishment for her failure to disclose the fact that she won the lottery, the court gave her husband the entire amount of the lottery winnings.

Separate Property

Separate property is all property that was acquired before marriage; during marriage by devise, will, or inheritance; and after legal separation. The proceeds from a personal-injury judgment or settlement are also separate property, even if they were received during marriage.

Upon the court making a finding that property is separate property, the person owning said separate property will leave the marriage with their separate property.

Separate property can be transmuted (converted) to community property by intent, or by inadvertence. For instance, a party may have a separate bank account before marriage that would be considered separate property. If the party then takes income that was earned during marriage and deposits that money into their separate bank account, they may have by inadvertence converted that bank account to community property.

Obviously, parties in a divorce proceeding will most likely want to keep their own separate property after the divorce is over. It is very important for you to contact an attorney with regard to the issue of separate property to ensure that you get to keep her separate property after the divorce.

If you are contemplating filing for divorce or are presently involved in a divorce proceeding, you may call our law firm for a free consultation at 818-739-1544 ext. 10, or go to our family law website at http://www.divorce-legal.net .

By Norman Gregory Fernandez, Esq., © 2006

By: Norman Fernandez

About the Author:

Norman Gregory Fernandez is a California lawyer who handles many types of legal matters. You can reach him through his website at http://www.norman-law.com

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Consumer Advocacy Speaker Secrets For Consumers Rights and Protection

Sunday, November 22nd, 2009

It never ceases to amaze me how poorly companies and professionals treat consumers.

Before allowing people to bulldoze over you, think things through and speak up for yourself.

Today when getting an MRI, MRA and some other M-acronym related procedure to evaluate my head after being in a car accident thanks to a drunk driver… I was shocked when I learned before they were to perform the MRA that I had to receive an injection called “a contrast” which neither my doctor, nor the nurses attending to me ever foretold me about.

Upon reading all of the contractual legalities and nearly signing my life away (which I never do, as I like to cross out things in contracts and initial them so as to decline) in regard to the possible side effects of this injection, I began asking questions as to how necessary this injection was along with my MRA.

Of course the technician who was scheduled to perform the procedure (along with 10 others that day), was NOT personable, NOR reassuring, NEITHER knowledgeable and patient enough to describe the procedure and why the injection was necessary.

However when I refused the injection and the MRA until receiving further information, the strong economic motivation on the part of the MRA technician and lab provider slowed them down long enough to begin to answer some of my unsanswered questions.

At first the front desk secretary and tech tried to feed me some rubbish about how “everybody” gets the contrast and they’ve only seen two people have any adverse reaction. I then asked about those two people and the extent of the adverse reactions.

The tech was happy to give me the MRA without the contrast, but mentioned my doctor asked for the contrast to be used in order to see more within my brain if (God forbid) something was wrong therein.

If I refused the contrast and something showed up on the MRI and proved to be wrong, then I would have to come back and do the procedure again…this time with the contrast.

I therefore phoned my physician (which I never got on the phone) for further information (which I should have received before the appointment and tests were scheduled in the first place) and got a little more information from his nurse.

The point to the whole entire matter is as consumers we must be proactive and not let people treat us as tools and cattle to be pushed around.

The tech initially was a bit aggressive with me saying, “We need to start the procedure.” I refused until I felt comfortable and received additional information. It was then the tech provided me a piece of paper with a fully detailed list of all possible side effects and negative reactions to the injection.

Yet none of this was given to me before the appointment, nor offered to me for review, neither given at the lab UNTIL I demanded it.

Sadly this is how many businesses are run…even worse the medical industry (which is severely and intensely economically motivated these days).

That being said, stand up for yourself and use your backbone before allowing people to treat you like a piece of meat to perform tests and procedures on.

Be a knowledgeable and proactive consumer, never bowing or caving to some policy when your body and pocketbook are involved.

By: Paul Davis

About the Author:

http://www.PaulFDavis.com – consumer rights advocate speaker, author and consultantinfo@PaulFDavis.com

Paul F Davis is a worldwide speaker who has touched 55 countries and 6 continents building bridges, transcending limitations and empower people of all ages to live their dreams.

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Important Facts About the Criminal Law

Wednesday, November 4th, 2009

Criminal law can be generally defined as the branch of law that majorly classifies crimes, treats of their nature, and provides best effective ways or approaches that can be followed for their punishment. In recent times, it has emerged as one of the few fields that are attracting many young aspirants to make their career. In fact, in the last few years the ratio of students practicing criminal law has increased rapidly. These days, many young lawyers are engaged in criminal law practice work for a governmental agency on either the federal or local level or in the non-indigent defense work for solo or small private practices. Today it is counted among one of the major vital parts of the legal system in the United States and offer rewards that are very exciting and better than any other profession. However, the field of criminal law even features some of the most important facts that are worth to be known.

Today if we talk about the criminal law then it is very important to understand the exact meaning or the classification of crimes. In simple terms, crimes can be classified as felony or misdemeanor, but there is a slight difference between felony and misdemeanor. The basic distinction between felonies and misdemeanors rests on the penalty and the power of imprisonment. Basically, a misdemeanor is defined as an offense for which a punishment other than detention or death in the state prison is followed by the law. Besides this, there are many people who often get confused with the term “degree of crime”. Now, the term degree of crime primarily relates to distinctions in the guiltiness of a crime because of the circumstances surrounding its commission.

In the United States, the power to define crimes and set penalty generally depends on the legislatures of the United States, the states, and the territories along with the principal authority associated to that of the individual states. In addition, a common-law crime is one punishable universal regulation, as distinguished from crimes specified by statute. However, these days in many U.S. jurisdictions, including those in which inclusive criminal law has been enacted the common law in relative to the criminal process.

The procedure in criminal cases is significantly similar all through the United States. If the offense is severe, the case is initially passed to a grand jury, which draws up condemnation if there is enough proof to validate the trial, or else it discharges the charged convict. However, it is really surprising to find that in the United States, the offenders proved as guilty in the criminal offence may be liable to get life long imprisonment, which can go up to 100 years. Moreover, the electric chair punishments and other severe criminal punishments have been amended in US, many years back.

If we talk about the criminal laws in gulf countries then the picture is totally different. The laws are very strict with regard to the execution of punishments. In gulf countries, the criminal laws are majorly governed by the Islamic code of conduct or ‘Shariat’ and there is no subject of any kind of amendments. In the United Kingdom, criminal acts are majorly considered as crime against the entire community. And, moreover, the state in addition to different international organizations plays a major role for crime prevention and deal with convicted offenders. The criminal laws vary across the world, but the basic of most of these laws is based on one prime rule to punish the culprit.

Nevertheless, today if we talk in terms of career options in the field of criminal law then there are numerous opportunities. Many students are working on a volunteer basis and gaining experience with externships. The field is very broad one with various options available in almost every sector of industry, both private and public.

By: Erik R Johnson

About the Author:

Find information about best criminal justice colleges and criminal justice degrees program at CriminalJusticeU.com. This is an online criminal justice education resource providing information about top criminal justice schools of USA and Canada that are offering criminal justice degree programs in various disciplines.

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